01x04 : On the road
by Gabrielle Henson
Summary: [4th episode in a series] Faith left Cleveland with a new mission and she's gonna learn it won't be easy as she thought...
1. Teaser

_Disclaimer : Everyone knows who own Buffy and co ! Obviously, it's not me!_

_ The story is the fourth episode in a series called 'Rocky path' and begins around one year after 'Chosen'_

_(01x01 : Friends, 01x02 : Guilty, 01x03 : Gifted are the three first episodes, I strongly recommand to read them to understand that one) _

_You can check it out on my website  
_

_Please let me know what you think._

_And I'm still looking for beta-readers ! _

* * *

Night was starting to fall. The sun was disappearing behind the skyline, leaving long orange streaks low in the sky.

Some stars were appearing here and there. The pale light of the moon, which was hiding behind some scattered clouds, was the only light to lighten a long deserted road drawn in a straight line in the middle of nowhere as far as the eye can see.

Sparse bushes were running alongside this wide and barely maintained two-way road. From time to time, a road sign pointing out any small unknown town varied the landscape. Or a curious animal came up to the road or crossed it, as if to cheer up the trip.

And the trip really needed to be cheer up, Faith thought.

The dark-haired Slayer was driving an old Renault for several hours on that road that seemed to never end. Giles had given the car. It was part of the lot of things the council had collected via its members and their contacts.

She wondered if the car wouldn't die during the following kilometer. She grumbled a second against Giles : he could have found a good old 4x4 or something like that. Xander had vaguely joked on that matter, mentioning an old love of the Watcher for European cars. Not automatic cars like the one Faith had learnt to drive with. Or like any good car on the American territory.

Her right hand on the steering wheel, her left elbow leant on the edge of the window of her door, Faith was driving nonchalantly, again deeply lost in her memories of the past week events. Leaving the council had felt like the best thing to do, even maybe like the ONLY thing to do. But after having spent so many months always surrounded, even if she had never really felt at ease among all these people, it was strange to her to be on the roads like that. Alone.

Well, not really alone, a little voice in her head reminded her.

Faith turned to her right to the passenger seat. Tara was settled there and she had curled up as much as possible. Her head rested on her right shoulder that leant against the car's door. Her long blonde hair covered her face and fell in waterfalls on her other shoulder and her back, forming a perfect barrier between her face and the gaze of the one who watched her. She was sleeping like a log, for several hours probably, trembling slightly from time to time, but so silent that Faith sometimes forgot her presence.

The dark-haired Slayer wondered when she had heard the sound of her voice for the last time. She wondered when she had heard another sound than the noise of the car's engine for the last time.

Faith glanced at the car radio, which played a soft music quietly, without ever stopping; and she would have never been able to hear it without her special Slayer's hearing.

One second, she was tempted to turn up the volume and to search something more swinging to liven up her trip. But a new look to the fair-haired woman sleeping next to her made her giving up this idea.

Faith sighed a deep bored sigh and her look returned on the road in front of her. Still so straight. Still so lost. Still so monotonous.

Yes, the trip really needed to be cheered up.


	2. Act 1

With her elbow leant on the edge of the door, her head nonchalantly rested on her hand and her gaze staring at the road in front of her, it would have been easy to think that Faith had fallen asleep. But her eyes were opened wide. And the car was going its road straight.

A strident beep shattered the deep silence and the gauge pointing out a next lack of gas switched on. Faith abruptly sat up to consider the state of the gauge, then turned to Tara. She had not moved at all.

Faith's attention returned to the indicators in front of her and she winced.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to find a gas station" she grumbled for herself.

She tried to remember when she had seen a road sign pointing out the next petrol station for the last time and regretted to have spent the last hour too much absorbed in her own world to pay attention to the one scrolling under her absent gaze.

She was about to curse this endless road and the arid view as far as the eye can see which encircled her when her protests died on her lips when she saw in the distance the characteristic lights of a gas station.

Faith let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in her seat once again, the time for the car to cross the last kilometers separating her from her goal.

Save for the luminous sign hung above the road that Faith had seen in the distance, the petrol station was plunged into complete darkness. It was tiny, composed only of two gasoline pumps and an unequal soiled small parking.

Faith stopped the car in front of one of the pumps and switched the engine off. She opened the door and enjoyed the evening's air she inspired at the top of her lungs. Faith dragged herself out from the vehicle and stretched herself outside. After spending the last hours sat in the car, the Slayer found this break particularly welcome. She walked some steps to stretch her tightened legs and the parking lot gravels squeaked under her feet.

After several minutes of stretching exercises and comings and goings in the only light of the moon and stars, Faith came back towards the car and by-passed it. She found her credit card in the pocket of her blue jeans and put it in the machine and composed her code. Then she opened the tank and was going to seize the pistol when she was surprised to notice through the passenger window that Tara's eyes were wide-opened. Faith's hand moved from the handle of the pistol to the door's one and she opened without warning.

"You should get out to get some fresh air, Blondie" She said in a monotonous tone she tried to sound cheerful. "It'll do you some good to move a little. I bet you feel pain everywhere after being so curled up all this time"

Faith tried to add a frank smile on her face but her nice try met hardly a reaction: Tara just blankly looked at her. Faith sighed with boredom but however insisted.

"Tara, you should get out and go around the time I take some gas."

Tara answered nothing at first and wrapped her arms around herself in a gesture of protection. Then she turned half to the outside and put her feet down on the ground. But she did not move more. Faith waited some seconds and seeing that the witch still did not get up, she sighed deeply and seized boldly one of Tara's arms to put her standing. The witch allowed her to do so, and once out of the car, freed herself from the Slayer's grip.

"Where… where are we?" She asked in a halting tone as her eyes traveled on her surroundings.

Faith shrugged to show she didn't know and took back the pistol she planted in the tank of the car.

"Don't know" she answered simply. "In a lost gas station, on a lost road"

Tara nodded her head gravely, obviously contenting herself with this answer and moved away from the dark-haired Slayer who looked at her for an instant, before pressing firmly on the handle of the pistol.

"Well, go for a walk" She grumbled while turning to the digits unwinding on the pump. « Don't go too far" she added more loudly to the witch.

Tara did not turn around, nor answered and nothing could tell Faith if the young woman had recorded her advice. The Slayer sighed once again and undertook to alternate to watch after the filling of the tank and to the witch.

When price and number of distributed gallons shown on the screen of the pump told her that she had just filled nearly half of the tank, Faith stopped the distribution and put the pistol back in place.

"20 dollars " She grumbled in a low voice. « Well, will be ok for the time being. A Slayer has to eat » she commented for herself.

Faith put the credit card back in her pocket then closed again the tank, before her eyes returned on Tara, which had frozen some feet farther and seemed to look up at the stars in the sky, while her arms were wrapped around her chest. Faith watched the immobile witch. Her clothes were too big, her hair too long, too wild, and everything in the way she looked seemed as many indications pointing out that the young woman was coming back from far away and had not really found her place in the world. Faith turned her head around her and her eyes traveled on the uninhabited wasteland around them. She could feel that there was not a sign of life in kilometers around. She wondered where they were. She had lost track of time and distance since their last stop. They could as well have run two hours or ten, and Faith was sure that she would not have seen the difference at all.

A deaf roar in her belly denied this last thought. Faith put her hand on her stomach she felt writhe and protest heavily about the treatment it was inflicted on.

"And, we'll have to find a place to have a snack" Faith concluded.

She turned to Tara who hadn't moved and called her loudly:

"Tara, we're leaving!"

The witch didn't react at all, which tore off a sigh of discontentment from the dark-haired Slayer. She considered for a second not to lose a second and go to grab Tara immediately. But she changed her mind and called her again, in a more pressing tone this time:

"Tara, we're going!"

Tara did not move more, obviously still concentrated on the stars, the sky, or whatever the Slayer didn't care about. If Faith had learnt a thing about Tara, it was that the witch could be particularly boring when she was lost in any contemplation as it was the case right now. And Faith wasn't particularly patient.

"Tara!"

The impatience in the sound of her voice was without ambiguity this time. Seeing the witch still without reaction, she was about to take a step towards her when this one looked finally down and turned to the car. Faith nodded her head as a sign of contentment and waited for the young woman to join her and settle in her place without saying a word. Then she climbed in the car in her turn and started the engine.

* * *

The car was now running quicker than before. Faith's stomach growled more and more and the Slayer had decided to quicken the pace, which allowed her to concentrate on something else than her growing hunger.

Silence was again established between the girls but Tara wasn't sleeping anymore. She was deeply sunk in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest and her wide-opened eyes settled on the road in front of her. But she didn't look like more present than before.

Faith cast her a glance from time to time to check if the blonde had fallen asleep again. But she always found her strictly in the same position as the previous time.

Faith sighed deeply when she still noticed no reaction at all after her 20th glance.

But if the blonde was awake, it was at least better for one thing she remembered. The Slayer stretched her hand to the auto radio, which still played music so low that Faith hardly heard it. She turned generously the volume button until 'Cigarettes' from the Wreckers filled the car and brought a light satisfied smile to Faith's lips.

But her smile transformed almost immediately in surprise when Tara's voice hit her ears.

"It's loud" The witch protested in a disgruntled tone.

"So, you're still alive" Faith joked but didn't make any gesture toward the radio.

"It's really loud" Tara insisted in a sweeter tone this time.

Faith just shrugged.

"I forced this thing to play silent for hours for you not be waken. Now that you came back in the land of the living, well the land of the awaken I mean" Faith corrected herself quickly when she saw Tara frown heavily. "Now I can have some fun"

The Slayer cast a glance to Tara who was looking at her without answering. Satisfied with herself, Faith allowed a smile to come to her lips and her eyes returned to the road in front of her. Just a few meters later, her head turned abruptly to Tara again when the witch lower the volume without warning.

"Hey!" The Slayer yelled almost with brutality.

"It was too loud" Tara explained in a casual tone.

Faith stared at her for a moment, shared between surprise and anger. Then, she repeated Tara's gesture to rise up the sound even louder than before. Then she cast a dark glance to her companion, clearly daring her to repeat what she had just done.

"It's too loud" Tara said again.

Faith hissed between her teeth and let escape a bored sigh.

"Okay, Blondie, listen to this: it's a thing that I'm okay to get you with me but don't think you'll be the one to rule here. You don't talk? Okay. It's not like I want to anyway. You sleep most of the time? Okay. I'm all nice and let you sleep. But the rest of the time, I do whatever I want. If you want us to be friend, you gotta remember that"

Faith looked again at Tara and saw with satisfaction that the witch had given up to protest. The witch shrugged, crossed her arms again before turning to the window and concluding without looking at Faith:

"We're not friends"

Faith rolled her eyes again and looked away from Tara to the road in front of her. After a few minutes while they didn't exchange a word and as the deafening music even drowned the motor's noise, Faith stretched her hand toward the radio. But she interrupted her gesture when she felt the car backfired. The Slayer frowned and looked to the dashboard's warning lights. None was switched on. Tara turned again to Faith and looked at her with a questioning look but said nothing.

"Don't know what's wrong" Faith grumbled nevertheless as the blonde had actually questioned her.

Then she switched off the radio abruptly. This time, she quickly heard the car backfiring and decided to stop on the side of the road.

As soon as the car had stopped, Faith jumped out of it after switching the engine off. Faith went round the car, searching any clue telling her what was going on. After her quick inspection, she had to face the facts: whatever was wrong wasn't obviously visible.

She sighed with boredom and grumbled some incomprehensible words for herself then opened her door again. She pulled on the handle to free the hood then lifted it. Faith inspected the motor quickly at first before bending forward to look more closely. The Slayer lifted carefully every cable up and looked with as much precision as she could to everything she was able to see.

If everything didn't seem in the bestest state, Faith considered it normal considering the age of the car. After ten minutes to look for something wrong, she had to admit she found nothing.

She went round the car again, bent to see underneath, inspected each wheel, opened the trunk and finally went back to her seat after slamming her door more forcefully than she had intended.

"Nothing's wrong Blondie" she mumbled more for herself than for Tara who hadn't move in the slightest during all this time.

Faith looked at her and sighed again in front of her lack of reaction.

"We've just gotta hope that shitty car will go till the next civilized place that road crosses " Faith concluded and switched the engine on again.

The Slayer got carefully the car back on the road and noticed the car didn't backfire anymore. Faith drove carefully again for the next kilometers. After the time she though was enough to consider everything was back to normal, she settled the car to its previous pace before switching the radio on under Tara's annoyed glance. However, she was careful to put the volume at a reasonable level and said in an almost happy tone:

"Looks like it was just a false alarm!"

* * *

Almost an hour after that incident, Faith and Tara were still driving in their old Renault without having crossed a single restaurant. If Tara didn't care at all, it wasn't Faith's case. Her stomach growled with displeasure more and more insistently as kilometers and minutes passed by." Faith exclaimed after a moment.

"I'm starting to wonder if we haven't reached a hellish dimension where I'm condemned to drive for ever with you on that deserted road without finding any damn restaurant to grab a snack!"

Tara didn't answer and barely turned to her. Faith didn't pay attention. She hadn't expected anything else than the silence as an answer.

"You know that Slayers have a really good appetite?" She went on in a casual tone. "And right now, I'm really hungry. I think I can eat just anything. Maybe you can hunt a rabbit? Or well, if you were edible, I'm so hungry I could even eat you …"

This time, Tara's head turned abruptly to her and to the questioning look on the witch's face, Faith realized what she had just said and backpedaled as she could.

"Well, I didn't really mean it Blondie…At all. Sometimes, I'm telling shit, you shouldn't pay attention…"

Faith cast a glance to Tara whose expression didn't change and the Slayer simply sighed before turning to the road again. And being pulled out of embarrassment and wait when she caught a glimpse of lights in the distance.

"Hey! I think we've got a restaurant right ahead!" She exclaimed.

Tara looked where Faith pointed. And she was right. They both could see growing an old luminous sign showing 'Chris' Dinner' where several letters weren't lighted anymore. Faith quickened the car's pace to get to the restaurant as quickly as possible.

She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when she got the car in the parking adjoining an old building poorly lighten alongside the road. But if the restaurant wasn't really engaging, at least it was opened. Faith could some activity inside through the wide windows. And it was all that mattered to her : it was open and ready to serve a big plate of anything to her.

"We finally find it" Faith specified when the car was parked as close as possible to the restaurant's entrance. "Not a three stars" she added with a grin. "But that will do nicely"

Saying this, the Slayer got out the car and stretched herself, waiting for Tara to follow her. The witch got out in her turn and went round the car to stand beside Faith. As soon as she had reached her, Faith resolutely entered the restaurant.

The restaurant was shabby. Rectangular plastic tables where still shone fat stains and old torn and faded skaied booth were the main furniture. Time and lack of care had turned the walls yellow and a thin layer of dust covered the ground. Even the manageress behind the bar seemed worn out to Faith.

But as soon as the girls had been sitting in the corner of the room with her plates filled, the dark-haired Slayer immediately forgot the restaurant off-putting first sight.

The Slayer had ordered a triple-cheeseburger with a big plate of fries and as she was beginning greedily the second half of her plate, Faith decided that the food wasn't that bad and much better than expected. Between two abundantly covered with mayonnaise fries, Faith cast a glance to Tara across from her. The witch had barely touched to her salad.

"You don't eat?" She asked.

Tara looked up slightly and looked at her without saying a word for a moment before planting her fork again in her salad. Faith watched her put a half-leaf of salad and a dice of cheese in her mouth and resumed:

"You have to eat. The barmaid told me we have two more hours to drive before finding a hotel to spend the night and a new place to eat"

Faith punctuated her sentence by serving herself a new full-fries fork.

"Beside" she went on. "Money Giles gave me won't last for ever and it's not with my own savings I'll be able to feed two people – including me – for long. So you should make the most of that all filled plate"

And the Slayer applied her own advice by pouring a new good spoon of mayonnaise on her fries. Tara first looked at her doing so with an absent look then a light of horror passed in her eyes when Faith seized the ketchup jar and poured a generous amount of it on her already covered with mayonnaise fries. The witch put back her fork on the table and plunged her hand into one of her oversized jeans' pockets in search of something. After a few seconds during whom Faith looked at her with curiosity, Tara put some bills on the table in front of her. Faith took them and counted 200 dollars. She looked up to Tara and frowned.

"Gi…Giles" The blonde simply answered.

Faith nodded.

"I guess Giles gave us all his change. "Will be useful"

And Faith returned to her last piece of cheeseburger while Tara leant back in her chair.

"Shouldn't prevent you from finishing your meal Blondie. You didn't eat anything since this morning. And don't even tell me this three salad leaves were enough"

Tara slightly shrugged and didn't answer which didn't prevent Faith from going on after she swallowed a new mouthful of fries covered in mayonnaise and ketchup.

"Don't know how you're doing. After my coma, I could have devoured lots and lots of stuff. And I was full of energy after all. I certainly didn't want to sleep all day like you. And…"

Faith suspended her sentence when she saw Tara's appalled glance on her. She tried to smile and to give her composure.

"And I guess it's totally different" she finished in a breath just before eating the last remaining fries in her plate.

The Slayer remained silent for some seconds. Embarrassed, she tried to find her plate really interesting and took pains to wipe her plate with the bread she hadn't already eaten. She eventually looked up again to Tara who hadn't moved in the slightest.

"Do you remember something…about when you were dead?"

Tara didn't answer but Faith could see her swallowing hard and clenching her jaw. She regretted her question and backpedaled immediately.

"Okay. None of my business anyway"

Faith pushed her plate away and took the last piece of bread in the basket in front of her. Then she leant in her chair as Tara had done previously.

"So, how do you find the trip?" She asked in the most casual tone as she could.

Tara vaguely shrugged and her eyes looked away to the window on her left to look outside.

"Good" she answered simply and looked again at Faith.

"Good. And?" Faith insisted.

Again, Tara shrugged and looked outside.

"Good" She repeated.

"What about the car?" Faith asked again. "Old but seems to be ok. And rather comfortable, right?"

Tara nodded simply and cast a quick glance to the Slayer before looking down to her hands on the edge of the table. Faith looked at her for a moment, stared at the bent shouldersn at the long blonde hair covering half of Tara's face, at the hands playing nervously with the dirty plastic of the table, at the half-full plate in front of her. She finally sighed and shurgged in her turn.

"Don't wanna finish?" She asked and stretched her hand to her companion's plate.

Tara said no with her head and Faith let escape a bored growl.

"B didn't tell me you were so fucking mute." She commented dryly as she took the witch's plate.

And without adding a word, Faith attacked Tara's meal leftovers while the witch looked absent-mindedly at the night outside.


	3. Act 2

When Faith had scrupulously eat Tara's plate up, she announced they were ready to leave. Impressed by her appetite, the barmaid offered her a sandwich for the road and Faith accepted with pleasure. After a last walk in the parking to stretch their legs, both young women settled back in the car with Faith at the wheel and Tara in the passenger's seat as previously.

They didn't have exchanged a word since the end of the dinner.

As during the previous hours and days, silence fell again in the passenger cell. Faith switched the radio on and let it play softly as Tara wedged her head between the door and the headrest. Faith cast her a glance from time to time and noticed that Tara went back to sleep quickly. Faith could tell to the way her chest was rising up regularly and her limbs were relaxed. It never happened when she was awake. Even when she gazed into space and looked like to be elsewhere, her limbs were tense , nervous, as they were ready to react to any unusual event.

Faith's attention came back to the road and the Slayer started to hum an old country song despite herself. She however didn't reach the end of the song as the ringing of the phone interrupted it. Faith seized the mobile laid on the dashboard in front of her. She was t a new glance to Tara. She hadn't moved.

Faith pressed the button to answer.

"Hello?" She said in a monotonous tone.

"Of course it's Faith. Who do you want it to be?" She grumbled a second later.

At the end of the line, Giles said something and Faith smiled. She could almost imagine the former Watcher frowning and grumbling an evident 'yes, of course'.

"Yeah, Tara's here" She answered a little later. "She's sleeping. As always. You sure she didn't get a partial resurrection?"

Giles's exclamation made her move the phone aside.

"Sorry, was tacky, I know… But I'm kinda bored lately…"

Faith fell silent, listened to Giles.

"No, I didn't kill anything these last few days. Just some vamps the day after we left Cleveland. Not that much"

Again, the Slayer fell silent to let Giles talk.

"Yeah, everything's right, Giles" She said and rolled her eyes. "What do you want to happen? There's nothing…" Silence again. "Yeah, I'll get you informed of what happen to us…"

Faith fell silent again and rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah, I'm taking care of Tara. Don't worry. And…"

Silence.

"Yes. Promise…bye"

Faith was about to hang up but hesitated for a second and finally put the phone to her ear again.

"Hum, Giles…" She said. "Thank you"

The Slayer nodded and finally hung up and put the phone back to its place. She turned to Tara. The blonde moved slightly and her face came in to sight. She was still sleeping.

Faith's gaze came back to the road. She turned up the volume slightly and leant back in her seat. If the barmaid had told her the truth, they would find a little town on their road in an hour or so now. Faith wasn't especially tired. But after spending two days in the car, a little break would do her some good. Tara would certainly be happy to have a bed after spending the last nights in the car. And Faith really wanted to go for a walk in a cemetery at night. Some action. That was what she needed, she thought as she stared at the dark deserted road in front of her.

A piercing scream tore her off her reverie. Surprised, Faith shied and she instinctively crushed the brake pedal. The car went off its lane, slightly skidded and stopped abruptly on the side of the road in a trademark screech of tires. Both passengers were thrust out forward and unkindly stopped by their safety belt.

Faith turned to Tara and saw the blonde backing against the door and looking at her wide-eyed, her heart pounding, breathing hard, her hand in front of her mouth.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Faith suddenly flared up. "What got into you?"

Tara simply stared at her, obviously indifferent to the Slayer's outburst.

"What got into you?" Faith harshly repeated.

She still didn't get any answer as Tara still looked at her without any change in her behavior. The Slayer's fingers clenched the wheel and Faith felt the little patience she still got about to vanish.

"What got into you?" She almost yelled this time, annoyed with the blonde's silence.

And her outburst was partially rewarded.

"I, I…" Tara stuttered.

"You what?" Faith went on in the same tone as Tara didn't manage to get her answer out. "We could have gotten killed! If I wasn't a Slayer, I'd probably have thrown this car in the décor or had an heart attack and…"

Faith fell silent when she saw the blonde's breathing didn't calm down and that she was backing more into the door behind her with each word she pronounced. She took back the control of her own breathing and tried to calm her nerves. The rage passed but Faith couldn't totally shake off her anger. She couldn't help but be exasperated by Tara's stasis and her look of a deer caught into a car's light .

"So?" She asked and tried to control the anger in her voice.

"I, I…"

Tara fell silent again and her face crumpled in front of the Slayer's obvious impatience.

"You what?" Faith insisted harder than she had intended.

"I…"

Faith rolled her eyes despite herself. Getting a sentence from the witch was the kind of challenge she didn't like. Having her saying something when she didn't feel like talking or when she started to stutter like now asked patience Faith simply didn't have. She loudly sighed before asking again in a bored tone:

"What happened?"

"I…A nightm…A nightmare…" Tara finally got out and the aforementioned nightmare had let her still agitated.

A nightmare. Of course, Faith thought. It wasn't the first time a nightmare pulled Tara out of sleep. But since they had left Cleveland a week before, Faith had never hear her scream like this.

"Okay" She said finally as she was looking at Tara trying desperately to control the shaking in her hands. "Do you wanna go for a walk outside before we leave?"

The witch shook her head and looked at Faith with something in her gaze looking like distrust.

"N-No…I'm gonna be o-okay."

She sat back normally again in her seat, looked at the road ahead and turned to Faith again.

"I'm gonna be okay…" She repeated in a low voice.

Faith nodded and got ready to drive again.

"I suggest that you avoid to sleep until we get to the hotel." The Slayer said in a casual tone, without looking at Tara. "We'll avoid that kind of unpleasant event"

And the car resumed its trip on the deserted road.

* * *

Faith's wish to drive quietly without any incident short lived. After just fifteen minutes spent in complete silence save for the engine's noise, the car backfired again like sooner and Faith had to stop on the side of the road. After pulled on the lever to free the hood, the Slayer got out of the car like a whirlwind and slammed violently the door behind her. Then she stood in front of the car with a dark look on her face as if trying to impress it this way could have resolved whatever the problem was.

"Godamn night!" She yelled to no one in particular.

She then kicked with controlled force the car's door and noticed that Tara had jumped to the noise. A slight satisfied smirk came to her lips.

Faith lifted the hood abruptly and bent forward in search of any sign of mechanical failure. She sighed a bored sigh after a few minutes of research and came back to the door she opened briskly. Tara turned to her while she ferreted in the wall-pocket but didn't tell her a word. Faith finally found what she was looking for when she laid a hand on a flashlight hidden under the driver seat. She took it and closed the door, still in silent.

The Slayer bent again above the engine, satisfied to see something this time. She ran the light over the engine, scrutinized each cable and growled with annoyance when she didn't notice anything wrong. She bent more forward and plunged her gaze as far as she could. Mechanically, Faith thought her white tee-shirt wouldn't be really white when she would be done.

The light went alternately on length of cables and went down lower and lower. And again, Faith mumbled unintelligible curse words. She bent forward again and almost put her cheek against the engine to examine as far as possible.

Suddenly, a yellowish light appeared just under her and Faith thought she could feel a breath on her face. A cry she couldn't identify rang and pierced her ears. The Slayer felt something move close to her and stepped back abruptly when she felt something tearing at her shoulder. Her head knocked violently the hood above her and it closed noisily. Faith found herself half-laid on the grass in front of the car, slightly groggy by the impact. But she came back quickly to herself and grabbed the flashlight she had let escape in her fall. Faith scanned her surroundings in search of the thing, which had just literally jumped onto her. She touched her shoulder and noticed she had scratched and that she was bleeding.

"Another wasted tee-shirt" she grumbled for herself.

"Something's wrong?" Tara asked then as she got out of the car.

Faith cast her a brief glance before her attention returned to their surroundings.

"Get in the car" she replied without even looking at the witch. "There's something out there"

"Something?" Tara asked in a halting tone.

"Don't know what it is. And as long as I don't know what it is or it's dead, I want you to get in that damn car"

Saying this, the Slayer was still looking around her carefully. When she didn't hear the car's door closing, she turned around to Tara and saw she hadn't moved at all and was still standing near the car.

"Get in the car" Faith repeated impatiently. "What part of that sentence didn't you understand?"

Both women stared at each other, Faith giving Tara a dark and imperious look while Tara was looking at her without really seeing her.

"Get in the car" Faith resumed and stressed each syllable. "I can't…'

"Behind you!" Tara interrupted, gesturing vaguely with her hand.

But even before the blonde had opened her mouth, Faith had already felt a presence behind her and she rolled on the side to avoid the attack coming in her back. She felt something brushing her arm and got to her feet as quickly and turned around as quickly as she had dodged to seize her opponent, which was already jumping onto her again.

The demon she was holding at arm's length above her head wasn't probably bigger than a wild cat. But to the strange light in its eyes, its impressive claws coming from what seemed half human arms and half animal legs, Faith knew without any doubt that her opponent was a demon.

The thing above her delivered a guttural scream and spat its rage to her face while trying to get its head and fangs closer to the Slayer's head. The beast was strong but not as stronger as Faith and with a surge of energy, she pushed violently on her arms to move the monster aside from. As soon as she was free, Faith jumped to her feet. She scrutinized the demon in front of her. Her first appraisal had been right: it wasn't really bigger than a wild cat. You could easily thought it was one at first sight. Except that what seemed to be bristled beards on its back were in fact sharps picks. Except that its fangs and claws didn't look at all like a wild cat's soft claws. Except for its weirdly articulated forward limbs. Except for its husky cry that certainly wasn't the meow of a regular cat.

"Get in the car" Faith repeated as she turned slightly to Tara without stopping any second to look at the monster.

She had tried to sound authoritarian but her firm tone didn't meet any more success than previously and Tara stayed still in her place, gazing at the demon not too far from her as Faith just didn't exist.

The Slayer sighed, rolled her eyes, clenched her fists with frustration but gave in.

"Good. Do as you want. But if you're killed AGAIN, you won't say I didn't warn you" she grumbled more for herself than for Tara.

Faith punctuated her sentence by moving slightly to stand exactly between the demon and the car. She ran her hand to her jeans' back pockets in search of a weapon and noticed she had none.

"Great…" She growled. "A knife would have been good"

She considered for a second asking Tara to grab her weapons in the car. But she gave up this idea. As long as she didn't move, Faith knew exactly where she was. And it was better to protect her.

The beast in front of her interrupted Faith's thoughts when it jumped without warning to the Slayer like a cat. Faith wanted to dodge the attack and took good care not to let the witch exposed as doing so. This way, she couldn't totally avoid the monster and a claw brushed her shoulder again.

Faith swore and noted the small demon's surprising execution's speed. It had hardly touched the ground that it turned again to her, hissing between its sharp teeth.

This time, the Slayer foresaw the attack, rolled on the side at the last moment and tried to grab it around the waist. Which worked real good thanks to the Slayer's outstanding speed and agility.

But in her hurry to instinctively act, Faith had forgotten the erected picks on the monster's back. As her arms surrounded the demon, she cried in pain and released hurriedly her prey.

"Shit!" She grumbled as she opened her arms in front of her and noticed the many small cut covering them now.

For an instant, she could imagine Buffy beside her rolling her eyes and lecturing her about how she should have been careful to attack a demon looking like a feline. Or a feline looking like a demon. Whatever it was.

The blonde Slayer wouldn't probably have acted as stupidly as herself, Faith thought bitterly. But she didn't really get time to linger about those reflections as Tara's voice brought her back to reality.

"Faith…"

Faith looked up and gave up the inspection of her hurt arms and turned to Tara.

The witch was still in the same place, standing near the car's right forward door. She was staring at the demon now just inches from the car and ready to jump forward.

The monster pushed on its hind legs with force and landed on the car's hood with a new piercing cry. Tara still hadn't moved.

Faith didn't let the beast time to attack the witch. She threw herself forward without thinking and grabbed with both hands the monster's hind legs and pulled it backward, out of reach of Tara. She stumbled in the process, because of the rudeness of her own gesture.

The demon hissed again frantically with frustration and bucked furiously backward. Faith hardly managed to avoid the bristled back of her opponent and she had a lot of squirming to do for that. She realized quickly that holding the beast in that position was far from the best but if she released it, she knew it would be hard to catch it again.

With great agility, Faith let go of one of the hind leg to grab almost at the same time one of the forward leg. The monster yelled even more forcefully and threw its free legs' claws to Faith in a furious and jumbled movement. Again, Faith felt the claws tearing at her thigh and forearm. She bit her lip in pain but she didn't let go.

In a new effort, she managed to turn the monster on its back and to put her knee on its stomach to keep her prey in this position.

"Tara!" She yelled to the blonde who was staring at the scene without moving a muscle. "Give me a weapon, a knife, anything!"

The Slayer bit her lip again to choke back a cry of pain as the monster bucked with renewed strength against the thigh keeping it in place.

"In the bag! Behind the driver seat!" She clarified in a choked voice when she noticed that Tara had still no reaction. "Shift your ass for God's sake!"

That new exclamation – sent in a much more piercing tone than previously – seemed to get the witch out of her torpor to Faith's great relief. Tara went back in the car and Faith saw her bending between the seats in search of something.

"Move, move, move!" She grumbled between her teeth as her jeans were reduced to pieces and the demon displayed a surprising strength in regard to its size, which forced Faith to tighten her grip to keep it captive.

Finally, Tara emerged again from the vehicle with a long thin dagger in her hand. She quickly and clumsily came to Faith and gave her the weapon. The Slayer released one of her grip to grab the dagger. The effect was immediate: when it felt Faith releasing it, the monster increased its efforts to try to free itself and scratches started to rain on the Slayer.

She didn't hesitate for a second and plunged the blade with rage in the demon's torso. Once, twice and he was struggling, hissing even more, buckling desperately to get free. Three times, four times, five times and at last he seemed to weaken. Six times, seven times, eight times and he stopped hissing. Nine times, ten times and he backed down, ceasing to struggle, ceasing random scratches. Eleven times and finally Faith felt life leaving the demon's body and it stopped to move.

When she was sure the monster was dead, Faith finally stood up. Beside her, Tara looked alternately at the demon and at the Slayer with the same horrified light in her eyes. Faith saw her chest violently jerk and the witch suddenly turned on her heels and ran behind the car when she fell to her knees. Faith could hear her barf the moment after.

The Slayer looked down at herself. Her hands were covered with a dirty mix of ground, dust, demon's blood and her own. Her jeans were in pieces, covered in blood too and here and there, her torn and mangled flesh could be seen.

The monster laid to her feet. The top of its torso was half-open by Faith's furious stabbing. For half a second, Faith thought she was going to get sick when she saw the beast's guts shown this way. But it last only a brief half-second.

Finally, Faith bent forward to take the dagger off the demon's body and she wiped it against the ground, then against what was left of her torn jeans. Her hands followed and the Slayer got back to the car. She opened the door and threw the dirty dagger in a weapons' bag, half-open behind the driver's seat.

Then, she came back in front of the car and opened the hood again before bending above the area where the monster had emerged.

"How the hell that thing was able to be there?" She grumbled for herself. "Damn contortionist…"

After several minutes she spent carefully inspecting, she noticed a slightly cut pipe.

"Tara you okay?" She asked loud enough to be sure to be heard, as she tried a quick fix.

The blonde didn't answer at first but after long silent minutes, Faith could hear her whispering a far from convincing "I'm fine".

"And by the way, I'm fine too" she resumed in a paltry tone after a silence. "In case you'd worry about my awful state, I'm gonna be fine, it looks worse than it really is. Got there already. And I guess you're happy to know?"

Faith waited a second but didn't get an answer as expected.

Satisfied with her word on the pipe, she closed the hood and got back in the car. She turned the ignition key and tried to start the engine. After two or three tries, it worked and Faith smiled with satisfaction.

"C'mon Blondie!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "We're gonna find a motel where you can get some rest!"

Tara didn't linger to open the door and to settle in her seat. Faith noticed she looked even more pallid than usual and couldn't help but smirk.

"You've gotta get a condition if you travel with me Blondie!" She said cheerfully. "Or that kind of things will often happen to you!"

She turned to Tara, almost smiling and noticed that the blonde was looking at her blankly.

"Yeah…" she grumbled, her almost smile vanishing from her face immediately. "Always so chatty…"

And the car left again, almost as if nothing had happened.


	4. Act 3

The car was now going on a deserted street in a small town of the center of the United States. The wan lights of the town reflected on the car's glasses. It was late and Faith wasn't surprised that they had met almost no one. It was still warm and the Slayer had opened her window and let her arm fall along the door as she drove nonchalantly in search of the motel the barmaid had talked them about sooner.

She wasn't really tired. She was a Slayer after all. But Faith wouldn't say no to some hours of sleep. Maybe she was simply bored after the distraction that had been her fight with the demon-coming-out-the-hood. And Tara needed a good bed. After spending the last two nights in the car, the witch probably needed a good night of sleep in a bed, even if she wasn't telling anything.

Faith stopped almost mechanically at a traffic signals and scanned her surroundings, forcing her gaze to look as far as she could along the street. A detail, a light in the distance got her attention and when the signal turned green, Faith turned on her right.

"What are you doing?"

Faith almost jumped when she heard Tara's dry voice. She wasn't used to hear the blonde, even less used to hear her talking in that harsh tone.

"Looks like I'm turning" She answered in an annoyed voice.

"Why?" Tara asked immediately without any sign of stutter. "The waitress said to go straight"

Faith sighed deeply to show to her companion how her speech was bothering her.

"And I can tell there's a police car at the end of the street. They're doing controls or whatever. We'll find another road"

Tara frowned, obviously not understanding what the matter was.

"I didn't see anything" she said simply after a silence.

"Of course!" Faith replied dryly. "Between the fact that you're always lost in your own world and the fact that I'm a Slayer –which means enhanced senses- it just makes sense that I can see things you can't!"

"Okay. And what's the matter?"

Faith sighed again and rolled her eyes. Then she gestured to herself in a dramatic gesture.

"Convicted murdered here. On the run. Don't really want to explain the why and how to the cops"

Tara nodded slowly; looking like she was proceeding the information the Slayer had just given.

"The…the council and Mr Gi…Giles, they didn't do anything about that?"

Faith shrugged nonchalantly.

"Giles's working on it through the council and their contacts. But right now, it's too soon. Still no one enough high-placed to get the thing done… And I guess that with the council to rebuild and Slayers all around the world, there're more important stuff to deal with…"

Faith fell silent, seemed to hesitate, then added in a sarcastic tone:

"And it's not like they need me. Now, if I go to jail, there're dozens of Slayers to get the job done."

Tara seemed to consider the Slayer's words carefully during long seconds but she finally turned back forward without adding anything. Faith shrugged when she saw them doing so and simply repeated:

"We'll find another road…"

* * *

Faith went through the motel's door with Tara on her heels. The place was nothing like luxurious nor even welcoming or nice. It reminded the Slayer only too well of the too many motels like this she had attended in the past. But it wasn't time to complain and they couldn't afford better anyway.

A young man sat at the counter. He was bad shaven, wore a too large and too dirty tee-shirt and looked like he came directly from a bad movie about gangsters. He looked up from his reading and appraised Faith's curves, outlined in her just too tight jeans and her waisted black leather jacket. He hardly cast a glance at Tara who almost disappeared in her own clothes and said in a laconic tone, even before Faith opened her mouth:

"We're full, girls"

Faith crossed nevertheless the distance between herself and the counter. Tara followed, after pausing for a second to the guy's words.

"Full?" The Slayer repeated. "How that scruffy dump can be full?"

Faith leant both elbows on the counter and stared at the young man, as if she was searching for a clue that he was lying.

"We haven't got a lot of rooms" the guy explained as he let his gaze plunge into the Slayer's plunging neckline. "We're just a small motel and we haven't got a lot of doubles…"

"Who said we wanted a double?" Faith replied.

"I don't have two free singles" He answered. "I told you we're full. There's just only one single and…"

"We're taking it" Faith interrupted without waiting for the end of the sentence.

The young man looked alternately between Faith – who already scooped her hand to him to ask for the key- and Tara who was standing shyly behind her.

"But you're two…" The young man protested. "It's a really small room, there's no room for two people and…"

"Listen to me guy" Faith interrupted again, impatience obvious in her voice this time. "I don't give a damn to know if that room is small or comfortable. I don't expect anything such from that hole anyway. But that girl here" she gestured to Tara behind her. " Needs a bed for tonight and if there's one free, she'll have it. Got me?"

The young man stared at Faith for a second, gauging the reality in the threatening tone Faith had used. Without knowing why, he couldn't help but feel cowed and slightly afraid of that stranger coming from nowhere. In others circumstances, he would certainly not have granted her request and given in to her implied threats. But no one was there to see him bend to a girl, so…

"Easy girl, you'll get the room"

He bent under the counter and got out a key he gave Faith.

"First floor, last door on the right. You'll sleep on the floor"

Faith took the key and nodded.

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do"

Then she seized the bag Tara had dropped at their feet during the speech and went to the door, closely followed by the blonde.

They young man watched them going out and going to the stairs. When they weren't in sight any more, he settled back comfortably in his seat behind the counter and resumed his reading where he had left it.

* * *

Faith stopped in front of the last door on the right as the young man had said. She compared the number barely readable written on a small piece of paper fixed upon the key to the one engraved on an old copper plate that almost magically stayed on the door in front of her.

Both wore thirteen.

Satisfied, the Slayer put the key into the keyhole and opened the door after struggling some seconds with an uncooperative door lock.

The door opened to reveal a small room. It was barely lighten by the light of the moon coming through the doorstep blocked by Faith. The Slayer came in and ran her hand to her right, searching for the switch. When her fingers came into contact with the greasy plastic she was looking for, Faith switched it on and a weak ceiling light lightened the room.

The receptionist hadn't lied. The place was tiny and untrimmed and there wasn't any kind of interior decoration to give the room some appeal.

"At least, it's cheap…" Faith grumbled and threw the bag she was holding on the bed.

It squeaked in protest and the mattress sank deeper under the bag's weight than it probably should have.

"Well, it's not the best room in the world Blondie, but it'll serve us for the night"

Faith turned to Tara who had stayed in the doorstep.

"Where…where are you going to sleep?"

Faith shrugged flippantly.

"On the floor Blondie… No problem for me. Slayer here"

Saying this, she gestured to herself. Then she considered the whole room. There was not much furniture: a single bed against the left wall, a simple wooden chair and a white decrepit washbasin whom tubing was rusty.

Faith shrugged again and she relieved herself from her jacket without waiting more. She put it on the back of the chair before sitting on it to unlace her boots.

"Come on Blondie, time to sleep" The Slayer urged.

Tara came in and closed the door behind her. She came closer to the bed and simply stood beside it, considering Faith who had just get off her boots and passed her tank top over her shoulders. The Slayer got free from her jeans, which landed above the jacket and the tank top. Then, Faith got to the bed where she seized the bag under Tara's gaze.

"What are you waiting for Blondie?" Faith grumbled when she noticed Tara stood still. "You're gonna sleep all clothed?"

Saying this, Faith took off her bra and slipped on an oversized tee-shirt and a pair of shorts, before grabbing the pillow on the bed.

"'Taking the pillow"

Faith then put the aforementioned pillow against the wall near the bed and lied on the floor, wedging her back against the pillow in the process. Tara still hadn't moved. Faith stayed in her position for long seconds before laying a questioning gaze on the witch. Finally, the brunette rolled her eyes and sighed with annoyance, and nimbly got to her feet.

"Got it. I'm gonna smoke a last cigarette"

Faith rummaged in her jacket's pockets and got her pack and her lighter out. She exited the room without adding a word.

She closed the door behind her and leant against the guardrail in front of her. She lighted her cigarette and slowly dragged puff after puff while looking at the night in the distance.

When she came back some minutes later, she found Tara lying in the bed under the sheets. She also wore a white oversized tee-shirt and she had carefully folded her clothes that were now put on the chair. The witch had stripped the blanket off the bed and had laid it down on the floor beside the pillow. Faith looked alternately the blanket and Tara with a little surprise on her face but said nothing. She put flippantly her lighter and pack on the chair, above Tara's clothes. Then she came to the switch near the door and switched the light off. Finally, she settled on the floor, curled up into the blanket and let her head sink into the pillow before wedging herself on her side.

"'Night Blondie"

She didn't get more reply than she had expected.

* * *

When Faith awoke a little later with all her senses in alarm, she immediately knew that not much time had gone by since she had fallen asleep. The feeling of weariness left by hours on the road hadn't disappeared. And the night was still dark outside.

Faith sat up on her elbows and listened carefully around her, searching what had waken her. She didn't wait long to find out.

Just above her head, Tara was tossing and turning in bed and muttering in her sleep. The words – if there were really ones – were unintelligible and sounded more like growls.

Faith turned to the bed and waited. Tara moved about some dozens of seconds more before the silence fell again on the small room. Faith craned her neck to see that Tara seemed to be calm again.

The Slayer lied again, threw the blanket over her body and tried to resume her night. She was about to fall asleep again after several minutes of struggle when her roommate started to whimper in her sleep again. Faith sat up again and saw that Tara was tossing and muttering nervously in her bed. She sighed, lied, sank into the pillow with the blanket over her head, hoping not to hear Tara this way.

But when the witch's growls transformed into speech and sobs, Faith had to accept the truth: a simple blanket over her head wouldn't be enough for her not to hear Tara. She sat up on her elbows again and sighed an annoyed sigh, cursing Tara and her nightmares, her Slayer's hearing and her desire to sleep right now. She stayed that way for what seemed to last an eternity to her – but probably last less than a few minutes- wondering what to do.

"No, no…"

Faith turned to Tara, surprise to hear understandable words for the first time in long minutes and frowned to the obvious anguish in the blonde's voice.

"No…" Tara repeated as she began to shake even more than before. "Help! Help!"

Faith jumped up when she heard Tara's voice go dramatically high. And she sighed again unhappily as spine-chilling sobs shook now the witch's body.

"No, no… please… No…"

Faith rolled her eyes.

"Okay. I'm not gonna get any sleep"

The Slayer moved the blanket aside and got up. She stretched herself and went to the chair where she grabbed her clothes. She slipped her jeans and tank top on as Tara was still asking for help behind her. Then Faith put her boots on and laced them before slipping her leather jacket on. She cast a last glance to the blonde whose anguished face was generously bathed by the moonlight and exited the room with a bored sigh without forgetting to take her cigarettes and lighter with her.

Outside, Faith enjoyed the silence and sighed with pleasure this time. She stretched again, enjoying the night's coolness and feeling her Slayer's senses awakening. She looked carefully around her for minutes, and then went down the stairs, as she sensed nothing particular around. Her boots echoed noisily on the old iron steps of the motel's outside stair but Faith didn't care.

When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she scanned her surroundings again. Still not sensing anything threatening, she got her pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and lighted one before starting to walk aimlessly.

She went away from the motel along the sidewalkmoving one foot in front of the other in equilibrium on the edge, spreading her arms to assure herself, just like when she was a kid and she pretended to be a tightrope walker.

Un brief smile lightened her face for a second.

Faith stopped to drag on her cigarette. She breathed in deeply the smoke and got it out with indifferenceShe turned back to the motel whose figure was now a hundred meters across from her.

Around her, stood the small buildings of an average town and Faith realized she hadn't paid attention to the name of the town when they had arrived and that she didn't know where she was.

She shrugged to that observation and the Slayer resumed her random walk. At a traffic signal, she crossed a barrier separating the road from the sidewalkShe jumped to sit on it. She turned around again to where she had come from: the motel was nowhere to be seen this time.

Around her, the streets were deserted.

Faith dragged a new puff from her cigarette and relaxed, letting herself go in her loneliness.


	5. Act 4

The morning was already almost gone when Faith decided it was great time to wake Tara up. She had had her breakfast in a café in the town center and had gone for an early walk to let some steam off. She then came back to the motel and noticed without any surprise that the room's curtains were still drawn, which meant that the witch was probably still in bed.

Faith watched the window for a moment from the ground floor and sighed. Then she climbed the stairs leading to the first-floor rooms and came resolutely in the room number thirteen.

As foreseen, Tara was still sleeping and the blonde jumped up abruptly to her entrance. So abruptly that Faith almost regretted for a second to have stormed in the room like this. Then, she remembered her too short night and the time it was and her guilt vanished as quickly as it had occurred.

"Wake up Blondie!" She exclaimed in a fake happy tone. "It's late in the morning and it's time for you to come back to the land of the liv…"

Faith stopped when she realized what she was about to say.

"Well, time to get up I mean" She finished in a grumble.

Then she went to the window and opened the curtains wide.

"Okay, Faith…" She mumbled for herself with her back to Tara. "Almost got out that **load of shit** a second time in two days"

But Tara didn't even notice her companion's **inauspicious** beginning of phrasing. With her eyes half-closed, she tried to get used to the new ambient luminous and it seemed to be hard on her. Faith turned to her and smirked when she saw the blonde's tousled hair and sleepy look. Then, her amusement vanished when she noticed the deep rings devouring the witch's cheeks.

"Do you have to so noisy?" Tar asked a bit dryly.

Faith shrugged and let herself fall heavily at the end of bed.

"I guess. You would sleep all day if I didn't do anything"

"And?" Tara asked.

"And what?" Faith replied in an annoyed tone Tara knew by heart now.

Tara sat up slightly and leant against the wall behind her before crossing her arms over her chest.

"And what could you have to do to get up early in the morning?"

Faith looked hurt by the witch's question for a second. But she regained her composure immediately and stood with a mask of perfect indifference on her face.

"That's just me" she said. "Can't stay in place. Need to move"

Saying this, she came back to the window and looked outside. Then she turned again to Tara and pointed the room in a circular gesture.

"And don't tell me you find that dump attrative?"

Tara sat up a little more, looked around her and seemed to consider the question. Her eyes roamed to the gray dirty walls, to the old washbasin, to the poor wooden chair before coming to the bed she was sitting on.

"It's not that bad" She finally answered.

Faith looked at her with a dumbfounded look for a second, wondering if the witch was serious or not.

"You're serious? Or do you just say that to piss me off?" She asked, giving voice to her thoughts.

The witch didn't answer immediately and Faith didn't give her time to say something.

"Whatever. There's nothing to do around here and I need to move"

She crossed the room again and turned to Tara before going out.

"There're showers at the end of the corridor. We take off as soon as you're ready."

Faith put her hand on the doorknob, seemed to hesitate for a second and said again:

"We'll make a stop in the town center for you to have breakfast"

Tara shook slightly her head.

"No need for that. I'm not really hungry. I… I can wait…later"

Faith hesitated again and remained silent some more seconds, watching the blonde who had sketched a half reassuring smile on her face.

"I promise" Tara insisted.

"As you want" The Slayer said finally. "I let getting ready."

Then she went out and closed the door behind her, leaving Tara alone again.

* * *

Less than an hour later, the young women had resumed their trip. Each sat in the place that had become hers, Faith driving and Tara beside her. Weather was gloomy. It wasn't really bad but the sky was grey as far as the eye could see. A light wind was blowing and lifted the dust on the side of the road in mild swirls. The sun was nowhere to be seen.

Faith had nevertheless opened her window to enjoy the breeze caressing her face.

An arm thrown through the window, the wheel in her other hand, the Slayer was driving with her trademark nonchalance.

As usual, silence had fallen on the car and only the radio could be heard as it was quietly playing.

"If we're doing good, we'll have crossed Illinois before sunset" Faith said mechanically, more for herself than for Tara.

"Where do you want to go?" The witch asked.

Faith turned to her with surprise. She hadn't obviously expected a reaction from the blonde.

"Iowa" She answered simply as she turned again to the road. "We'll probably get there tonight"

"Why?" Tara asked again.

"Why what?" Faith said absently, turning to Tara a second time.

"Why Iowa?"

The Slayer casually shrugged.

"Don't know. Just wanted to see some of the country. Never got to the centre and the north. I get the chance to go now. So why not? So, Iowa first. Then, farther."

This time, Tara didn't reply anything and Faith didn't say more.

The Slayer grabbed the wheel with her left hand and scooped the right one to take her pack of cigarettes laid on the dashboard. She lighted one before laying down the pack back. Faith dragged some puffs in silence before turning again to her travel mate. Tara was looking through the window in seemed lost in thoughts. Faith watched her thoughtfully for some seconds before pulling her out of her reverie:

"And you Blondie? Did you travel before?"

Tara turned to her and considered her with surprise and hesitation. She wavered and seemed to think about the question.

"C'mon Tara, it's not a hard question!" Faith urged her.

The witch crossed her arms over her chest and shook slightly her head.

"Not… Not really"

Faith waited for a second for her to precise, not wanting to push the usually so mute witch.

"What do you mean, not really?" She eventually asked, when she understood that her patience wouldn't be rewarded.

"I…" Tara began.

If she had intended to tell something more, she didn't have time. As it had already happened the day before, the car backfired and its speed suddenly decreased. With got immediately Faith's attention away from Tara.

"Shit!" The Slayer growled angrily. "What's going on AGAIN?"

Faith pressed carefully the accelerator and the car backfired even more, getting a new angry cry from the brunette.

"Shit! Shit and shit!" She repeated furiously as she parked the car on the side of the road. "This is happening again!"

The vehicle stopped and Faith got out then slammed violently the door behind her witch made Tara jump whereas the blonde had expected the Slayer to storm out that way.

Faith went round the car quickly and rolled her eyes when she noticed nothing unusual. When she was back at the front of the car, she tried abruptly to open the hood before remembering she hadn't freed it. Faith opened her door again and bent forward to pull on the command to open the hood.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked.

"Don't know" Faith barely answered and got out of the car again.

This time, Faith could lift the hood and sighed with lassitude, her hands on her hips as she cast a glance to the engine.

"I feel like I've already lived that" she grumbled. "Please tell me it's not a remake of 'Groundhog Day'…"

Then the Slayer laid both hands on the edge of the engine and bent slightly forward.

"I bet my quick fix didn't last…"

Saying this, Faith started to search the concerned pipe but stopped when she heard the door slam. She looked up to see Tara who had got out of the car.

"What're you doing?" Faith asked.

"Going for walk?" Tara offered.

"Yeah, go…" Faith grumbled and looked at the witch walking some steps. "Go for a walk when I try to fix this mess"

She was about to resume her task when the trademark cry she had discovered the night before made her turn around abruptly.

At her feet, all fangs and claws out, stood a demon strictly identical as the one she had fought and defeated the evening before.

Faith dropped her arms on her side in a dramatic gesture and let escape a long bored sigh.

"I'm sure this time." She said in a casual tone. "I relive days"

The Slayer put her hand behind her back and got a long dagger from her belt.

"Bit this time, I'm all ready" she added with a fierce smile.

The monster spat and screamed again and Faith didn't wait for it to attack. She swung violently her foot forward to hit the beast but it avoided Faith's assault with agility and attacked immediately in its turn. Faith dodged rolling in her side. The demon turned around and got ready to jump on her prey again as Faith was still laying on the ground and was gazing at him as to challenge him.

"Faith, what…"

Tara's voice broke the moment. The monster stopped dead in its tracks to turn to the witch who had just emerged from behind the car.

"Oh!"

"Shit!" Faith growled and got to her feet immediately as the demon interest was now clearly to Tara. "Perfect timing Blondie!" She yelled then to the witch.

Tara didn't reply and let escape a little scream, as the demon was about to jump onto her. Faith's eyes widened in surprise and terror when she saw that Tara didn't make as if she was going to try to avoid it.

"Tara, get back! Move!" the Slayer screamed at the top of her lungs.

She wanted to rush at the demon and to try to grab it around the waist as she had done the night before. But she knew she was too far from it to grab it before it reached Tara. Faith considered the dagger she still held firmly in her hand and without wavering, she threw it at full force at the demon. The blade rebounded violently on the sharp picks coming from the demon's back and fell heavily on the ground.

That throw wasn't totally useless. The violence of the impact slightly sidetracked the demon's trajectory. But Faith saw nevertheless Tara topple over and disappear behind the car as the demon's left forward paw clutched her left shoulder.

Quick as a flash, Faith crossed the distance to the witch and the demon and grabbed her weapon on her way. She jumped over the hood and landed heavily beside the blonde. Feeling the Slayer coming in its back, the monster left its prey alone and turned to face Faith.

The Slayer cast a glance to the witch and noticed that only her shoulder seemed to be hurt. Without another glance to her travel mate, she headed to the demon with her dagger in hand.

It screamed with rage and stepped back in front of the Slayer's threatening stance. The, to Faith's great surprise, it went flat on its belly and slid under the car where it disappeared from Faith's sight. Faith choked a swear and bent carefully to notice the demon was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit!" Faith growled again, all her senses in alert, trying to find the beast.

Behind her, Tara got to her feet carefully and put her hand to her wounded shoulder. Her fingers ran onto the wound and Tara considered blankly the blood on her hand.

"What the hell are those things?" Faith grumbled in the meantime, still looking for the demon. "How can it be so small and so big at the same time?" She wondered out loud.

"They are n'kochki demons" She heard Tara answering.

Faith turned around abruptly to her, surprise paint on her face.

"What?"

"They are n'kochki demons" Tara repeated as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Small demons whose morphology is close to cats, with dangerous claws and fangs and able to hide in the most tiny places. They're known to like…"

"Really really known yeah…" Faith muttered.

"…they're known to like nibbling on cables" Tara went on without paying attention to Faith's outburst. " and to be always two"

Faith considered Tara a second with hesitance, obviously confused about what to do. A dull anger finally won over any other feelings.

"You couldn't say that before?" she yelled to Tara as she turned to her frankly this time. "You don't think you could have shared that news SOONER?"

Tara shrugged nonchalantly but stepped slightly back when Faith stepped forward.

"You…you didn't ask" She answered simply.

Faith remained stupid. She opened her mouth then closed it once or twice without any sound getting out as. She breathed in deeply to try to control herself and asked in the most sarcastic tone she could:

"And what are you going to tell me now? That the sharp picks on their back are poisoned and that I have 24 hours left to live?!"

Tara didn't seem to notice the irony in Faith's voice and shook seriously her head:

"No. Or at least, it wasn't written in the book where they were mentioned"

Faith looked again at Tara in astonishment then brushed aside any comment that came to her and simply rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. You…"

Faith stopped short and turned on her heels to the car as the demon jumped over it at that precise moment to try to land onto her with its threatening claws out.

The Slayer steeped back and stumbled on something – probably a rock or a branch. Faith first wanted to catch herself to avoid falling and she finally let herself heavily fall to the ground on her back.

As her back touched the ground, she stretched her arms in front of her.

The demon cried in pain as it impaled itself on the dagger Faith still held in her hands.

Immediately, the Slayer got the blade out of the demon's body and got to her feet at lightning speed.

The demon fell on the side with a new cry of pain but Faith didn't let it time to regain its composure and plunged her dagger again in its side with the same ferocity she had already shown the night before on its kind.

"C'mon guy, show me if you need more than your little friend to go to hell!" She grumbled to the demon as she repeatedly hit it with her knife.

The monster wanted to defend itself and gave some desperate scratches that touched their target from time to time. But the Slayer's rage and accuracy soon to reduce it to silence and the demon died before Faith counted how stabs had been needed for it to stop moving.

When she was sure it was dead, Faith got up, her dagger still in hand. She wiped the demon's blood on the grass at her feet and considered her torn wrists for some seconds. Then she looked for other possible wounds. When she found none, she turned to Tara with a smirk.

"Well" She said. "Let's check if your theory is right and if they're always JUST two or if other friends of them were invited to the party."

And she came back to the still lifted hood, her dagger in hand.

* * *

The hood slammed noisily when Faith released it.

"Relax Blondie" Faith told her with a smirk when she saw the blonde jump to the noise. "It's just the hood"

Tara didn't answer and looked away from Faith, resuming her previous task. The witch sat on the passenger seat in the car with the door open and tried to clean her wound with the makeshift first-aid kit Giles had forced Faith to take when they had left Cleveland.

Faith looked at her doing so for a time and opened her mouth to talk but closed it without saying anything. Faith shrugged and turned her back to Tara. She went away from the car and took her cell phone out of her pocket. She searched for a number and pressed the button to call and waited for her interlocutor to answer.

Some seconds later, Giles's voice greeted her at the other end of the line.

"Faith!" Giles said with his typical British accent, and Faith could imagine him frowning as he wondered about the reason for her to call. "What a pleasure to hear you. No problem I hope?"

Faith couldn't help but snigger to the question.

"No, no G-man, no problem. Well, no problem anymore. After killing the two n'koch-something demons hiding in the car, it's all better. You wanted to kill us with that freaky car?"

"What?" Giles asked in a confused tone.

"Your so pretty car, Giles" Faith explained. "There were two n'koch… koch something demons inside, kind of demonic cats…"

"N'kochki demons?" Giles asked, immediately understanding what faith was talking about. "In the car?"

"Exactly, hidden in…"

"It's fascinating" Giles resumed without paying attention to Faith. "I never saw one myself, but they are indeed known to like nibbling at cables and always be…"

"Two, I know, thank you" Faith interrupted. "And fascinating is really the word I would have chosen. Especially for their nice little picks on their back…"

"How's Tara?" the Watcher suddenly asked. "Is she hurt?"

Faith rolled her eyes and turned to the car at a dozen meters from her now. Tara was still cleaning her wound.

"A scratch" Faith answered. "She's fine. And I'm fine too if you're interested"

"Hum…" Giles said, suddenly embarrassed. "I know you're a tough girl Faith. And you pretty much sound healthy to me… And you can protect yourself. As for Tara, those demons could have…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Faith interrupted. « She's fine, don't worry… Well, for the moment"

"How's that for the moment?" Giles asked in a slightly panicked tone.

"The way things are going, I possibly could kill her myself," Faith said as she looked again toward the car. "She drives me nuts"

"Yes, yes…" Giles answered thoughtfully. "I guess… Post-resurrections are apparently not easy to handle, you have to be patient…"

Faith rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah… And patience is SO my first skill"

Giles didn't answer and remained silent for long seconds.

"Do you need something?" He eventually asked.

Faith mechanically shook her head.

"No, G-man. Told you I wanna do things by myself. I'm gonna be fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah" Faith insisted. "Everything's fine. And I'm gonna leave you Giles, I think it's time for me to find a little restaurant, I'm starving. Killing demons always makes me hungry."

This time, Giles was the one to roll his eyes.

"Well… Enjoy your lunch then?"

"Yeah, thank you G-man, bye…"

"Hum, Faith?"

"Yeah ? "

"Hum…Thank you"

"Yeah. Bye"

Faith hang up and put the phone back into her pocket. Then she came slowly back to the car where Tara was waiting for her.

* * *

_Please tell me what you think._

_TBC in '01x05 : In the middle of nowhere' _


End file.
